


Weapons Not Meant For War

by Maxils



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angsty backstories, Dream Needs A Hug, Dream Needs Another Hug, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Government Experiments, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Kit Kat - Freeform, M/M, Therapist Dream, a certain squid breaks the fourth wall in chap 5, and maxils said "let there be swears", chap 2 and i still haven't sworn, cross is babey, cross needs a hug, did i not swear yet, dream has a cat, holy shit how is chap 5 so long, i stan therapist dream, i want to speak to your manager, im gonna swear later tho, nightmare needs a hug, omg, waitaminnit where's the swearing, ykw at this point everyone needs hugs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:41:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25401781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maxils/pseuds/Maxils
Summary: When Dream finds an escaped government experiment, there are two sides to the coin - one that desperately needs help, and one that could end up leading to something he never could have expected.
Relationships: Cream - Relationship, Cross/Dream, Errink, Error/Ink, Nightmare/Blue - Relationship, Past Error/Dream, Past Insomnia - Relationship, Sans/Sans (Undertale), nightberry
Comments: 184
Kudos: 95





	1. the prologue type thing

**Author's Note:**

> i have described this as cream but angsty backstories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream is returning home when a noise lures him into an alley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im terrible at life and sleep

Walking down the quiet streets of Rockwell reminded Dream that he was alone. He’d been alone for the past twelve years, after cutting contacts with his best friends, moving to a different province altogether and spending seven years in university. Overall, though, he’d been doing well for himself. He’d gotten a job as a therapist, he got his own apartment, he adopted a cat… He was doing well. Even if he was mostly alone.

Sure, there were a couple close friends, and the cat, and his patients, he guessed, but overall, he’d been trying his best to keep away from strong emotional attachments ever since…

Dream quickly switched to thinking about something else. The… full moon was pretty. And the stars. The sky in general was nice. Yeah. Except storms. Storms were not nice. Clouds, though. Sometimes, clouds appeared in funny shapes, like an ice cream cone, or-

A loud clanking noise snapped Dream out of his thoughts as his gaze snapped in the direction of the sound.  _ Maybe it’s just a raccoon, or a skunk. Or a person. Just in case… _

“Who’s there?” he called out into the darkness, just to be safe. The response was a quiet yelp of shock. Still unsure as to who or what the yelp came from, Dream followed the sound into a dark alley. He readied himself to fight if needed, because dark alleyways were typically depicted as where stuff like mugging and murder happened. Rockwell was generally a pretty safe town, but that didn’t mean that crime didn’t happen there. “Show yourself!”

There was another clank, followed by a hiss of pain. Dream scanned the area and saw a red glow that quickly turned away. The sound of hurried footsteps followed.

“Don’t worry,” Dream called again, quieter. “I just want to know who you are.”

The footsteps suddenly came to a halt and were replaced by a loud thud, with a repeated, “No, no, no, no, no…” It sounded like a male voice, but Dream wasn’t one to assume gender.

Dream turned the corner to see a freaked out skeleton with mismatched eyelights and a scar on their cheek, wearing a blue, hospital-esque robe.

“NO!!! DON’T HURT ME!!!” the other screamed, tears streaming down their face as they clutched their right leg.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy, I’m not going to do anything to you,” Dream reassured them. However, as he tried to get closer, the other scrambled backwards with their free hand and leg. Clearly, getting closer would get him nowhere. “Are you alright?”

“Don’t take me back to them!” the other cried, bones rattling from all the shaking they were doing.

“Okay, just… relax,” Dream instructed. He’d dealt with anxiety and panic attacks before. “Take a few deep breaths, and feel yourself calm down.” Skeletons had no need for breathing; for skeletons, it was just a calming reflex and nothing more.

The other did as instructed and began breathing. Eventually, their posture relaxed, and they seemed less freaked out. Slowly, Dream moved over to them, relieved to see that they weren’t flinching. He stopped about a meter away, just to be safe.

“Alright, that’s good. Just like that,” he said as the other continued breathing. After a moment, he added, “Can I take a look at your leg?”

The other nodded, and their hands moved from the leg. Almost immediately, Dream could see the crimson marrow trickling down the side of the fibula. It looked like there was a fracture on the other’s leg, but Dream couldn’t tell. Either way, the other was very clearly injured.

“And that is less good. Oh boy.” That was not good at all. “Do you want me to take you to a hospital?” he asked, but the other seemed confused by the question.

“Wh-what’s that?”

Dream blinked a few times in shock. “You’ve… never heard of a hospital before?”

“They... n-never let me out. They w-want to h-hurt m-me. Don’t… don’t let them h-h-hurt me. P-please,” the other sobbed, their red and white eyelights shaking fearfully.

_ Who are the they in this situation? _ Dream wondered, but quickly dismissed the thought. Whoever the nervous skeleton was, they needed medical attention. “Alright, I won’t let them hurt you. I just want to help you, but I need to take you to a hospital. I’m not a medical doctor.”

The shaking skeleton jumped at the mention of the word doctor. At first glance, it seemed that they didn’t like doctors. Iatrophobia, maybe? Then again, they’d never heard of a hospital before now, so their fear must have been something else. Scientists, possibly.

“Alright, I won’t take you to the hospital. I guess I know basic first aid, and I think I have some bandages at my apartment…” Dream thought up an idea. “Do you want me to take you there?”

“O-okay…” The other tried to stand up, but their injured leg gave out instantly. Fortunately, Dream was quick enough to catch them, and was surprised to discover that they were rather tall compared to him.

“Good thing it’s only a couple minutes away,” he muttered. It would probably be more than a couple minutes away, considering that he had to support the other, but he was willing to help out.

“By the way, do you have a name that I can call you?”

“...Name?”

Well then. Dream tried to think of a different way to explain it. “What do people call you?”

“Th-they called me a few things… He, it, X-Event… The nice ones called me he...”

Okay, that was good. Now Dream knew what pronouns to use for him. However, X-Event didn’t exactly seem like an appropriate name…

“How about I call you… Cross?” Somehow, Dream’s mind had ended up at the Playstation controller’s buttons and the debate over one particular button. Totally the X button, but Cross was more fitting as a name.

“S-sure,” the newly named Cross replied, leaning on Dream as they started walking. “That s-sounds nice.”

“Nice to meet you, Cross. I’m Dream.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tumblr [maxilsmaster](https://maxilsmaster.tumblr.com/)


	2. Pictures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream brings Cross to his apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cat

It took a few minutes, but the pair eventually managed to make their way to Dream’s apartment without passing by anyone. It was on the first floor, so they didn’t have to climb any stairs.

“Well, here we are,” he announced, standing in front of the door. He twisted open the knob and pushed. “Welcome to my apartment.”

The apartment had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. The open concept kitchen had granite countertops and white wood cupboards, as well as a toaster, microwave, blender, fridge and stove, as was standard with kitchens. The living room had a gray fabric couch, a blue and white scratching post, a fluffy beige cat tower, and a flat screen TV. The rug was a nice mottled gray and white pattern. The walls of both rooms were a light beige color.

Dream guided Cross to the couch and sat him down. “I’ll get the first aid kit. Stay here, please,” he requested. Cross nodded and relaxed into the couch.

Dream stood up and went over to the closet to get the first aid kit. He returned to see his cat, Sombra, laying on Cross, purring. Cross looked freaked out and confused.

“Don’t worry,” he reassured Cross, “Sombra is nice. He doesn’t bite or scratch.” At the mention of his name, Sombra jumped off of Cross and rubbed up against Dream’s leg. “I missed you too, Sombra,” Dream muttered, scratching the black and white cat’s chin. He went into the kitchen and grabbed two hand towels and a glass of water.

“Alright, Cross, this may sting a bit, but I’m going to wash out your wound.”

Slowly, he began to pour the water over the cut, but Cross flinched the moment the liquid touched him, and his eyelights shrunk in fear.

“Cross, I promise you, if you let me wash the wound it will ultimately be less painful than if I don’t.”

“What does that mean?” Cross asked.

Dream sighed. Wherever Cross had been before, he must have received some  _ really _ poor education. “It means that if I do this, you’ll hurt less than if I don’t do it.”

“Okay…” the injured skeleton replied unsurely. He still seemed against the idea, but he’d moved his leg back.

“Okay, I’m pouring in three, two, one…” Dream began pouring again, and Cross only tensed this time. Dream managed to get the water out and began wiping up any water that got onto the hardwood flooring. After a moment, he used the other one to dab the water off of Cross’s leg. “That’s good, Cross,” Dream reassured him. “You’re doing perfect. I’m going to wrap your fibula up with bandages now.”

He got out the bandages and began wrapping. Cross didn’t seem as tense anymore, and Dream managed to bandage up everything until he noticed the fracture. He took note of it before continuing to wrap.

Cross let out a small whimper of pain as Dream finished.

“I’m going to get you some food now,” he informed his guest as he stood up, “and then I’m going to find you some real clothes.”

“Mmmkay,” Cross agreed. Sombra jumped back onto him and began kneading. Cross whined again, so Dream moved Sombra off of him.

“Sombra, no,” Dream scolded the cat. “Here, try petting him like this.” Dream began petting the fluffball of a cat, who in turn began purring again. “Cats do this… this  _ thing _ with their claws where they curl them into you. It hurts, but they only do it out of affection,” he explained. “I’m going to get the food now.”

Cross nodded and began petting Sombra, his eyelights lighting up excitedly at the touch of the cat’s fur.

Dream began wondering about Cross as he made his way into the kitchen.  _ Who is he? Where did he come from? Why is he wearing the hospital gown? Who is it that wants to hurt him? Why is he so scared? _ Those were just some of the questions that swirled in his mind.  _ What does he like to eat? _

Dream stopped at the last thought. He had absolutely no idea what Cross liked.  _ Chocolate, maybe? Everyone likes chocolate. It’s also decent healing food, even if it’s not actually healthy. Wait, do I even have any? _ Almost immediately after that thought, he located a large Kit Kat.  _ Yeah, perfect. _

He grabbed the bar and went back into the living room to see Cross looking at some pictures Dream had set up next to the couch.

“Cross, I’m back,” Dream called, snapping Cross back to attention. “I brought you some chocolate.”

“Chocolate?” Cross repeated slowly, but curiously. At this point, Dream had noticed a pattern with Cross - multisyllabic words took more effort for him to pronounce than monosyllabic words.

“Yeah,” Dream nodded, sitting next to Cross. He unwrapped the Kit Kat and broke off a piece. “This is for you.”

Cautiously, the taller took the chocolate from Dream’s hand. He sniffed it a bit, then stuck out his tongue to take a lick of it. The moment the tongue and the chocolate made contact, Cross began devouring the chocolate joyfully.

“So, you like it?” Dream asked. Cross smiled excitedly in response, eyelights wide with happiness. “Well, here you go.” Dream broke apart the rest of the Kit Kat and gave it to Cross, who finished the chocolate quickly.

“Th-thank you,” Cross murmured nervously, as though he didn’t know if that was the right thing to say.

“You’re welcome,” Dream replied with a smile.

“Can… can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead. I’m listening.”

“Who are they?” Cross asked, pointing at the pictures.

“Oh… that.” Dream chuckled dryly. “Most of those are photos from where I used to live. They’re of me, my adoptive father and… my brother. Well, some.” Dream paused for a moment. He’d never really known his mother, since she’d died before he was in preschool, and nobody knew the identity of their father. Dream and his brother had been placed under the care of their mother’s friend after that. Then his brother disappeared, and Neil, their adoptive father, had passed on when Dream was in college. “The others on this table are of me and my old friends, before I moved here. Except this one.” He pointed to a picture of himself and another skeleton. “That’s from the last time I dated someone. He and I are still good friends.”

“What’s dated?”

_ Something I can’t do properly, _ Dream thought, but dismissed it. “It’s… hard to explain. How about I get you some clothes and we can talk about it in the morning? It’s getting late.”

“Okay,” Cross agreed, and Dream left to get him some clothes.

Looking through his wardrobe, he found exactly one set of clothing that might fit Cross - a fluffy black and white hoodie with matching shorts and a turtleneck. He’d gotten it for his birthday from a roommate at uni one time, but they’d misjudged Dream’s size - badly. The shorts didn’t fit Dream at all, and Dream wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of wearing hoodies.

_ At least it wasn’t Christmas themed. _ He’d had just about enough of Christmasy birthday gifts in his life.

He returned with the clothes to see Cross asleep on the couch, Sombra lying on his chest.

_ I guess we can do this in the morning, _ Dream sighed, smiling at the sight.  _ Good night, Cross. _

Placing the clothes on the end of the couch, Dream went back into his own room to go to sleep.

_ He almost reminds me of Nightmare... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i challenge y'all to guess who dream used to date. your hint is that he is a sans, not nightmare, not blue and not ink.


	3. Government

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little conversation between a government agent and his boss, and we learn what happened to a certain missing skele.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> allow me to introduce you to our villain.

“There you are, Doctor Prince,” the blonde human greeted the short skeleton as he walked into the office. “Wearing your uniform properly as usual, I see.” He was one of five employees who actually wore the uniform correctly.

“Of course. You called, Doctor Jamison?” the other replied in a professional manner.

Jamison looked up and down all less than five feet of his skeletal employee. Prince had been an employee for only eleven months, and at first, it had seemed like he was too warm hearted for the job they did, but Jamison had quickly found out that the experiments trusted Prince more than any other doctor, especially Project N and the X-Event. Prince was the only one the X-Event wouldn’t flee from, and Project N wouldn’t attack on sight. Frankly, it was rather impressive.

_ Back to the point.  _ “We all know that you’re the only person the X-Event trusts,” Jamison said.

“I keep telling you that that’s not an appropriate name.” Prince’s tone remained respectful and his face kept neutral, neither holding the slightest hint of the objection that the words themselves carried.

“Which is why you gave it the fun little nickname of X, and Project N got Night as a nickname.”

“That is correct,” the short skeleton nodded.

“In fact, you’ve nicknamed every experiment you interact with, humanizing them in the process. No offence, that is just the official term.”

“None taken,” Prince replied, “but permission to question relevance?”

“Ah, I must have been going off on a tangent. Forgive me,” Jamison apologized, a calm smile on his face the entire time.

“Forgiven, sir.” Ah, Doctor Prince. So professional, yet so  _ caring. _ Jamison was so sure that the kindness Prince held would be his downfall, but so far, it had only been doing wonders.

Jamison switched back to the problem at hand. “As you know, the X-Event, or X, as you call it, has escaped.”

“Yes, you announced this earlier,” the skeleton reminded his boss, straight face unfaltering. “You have told us that  _ he _ was not ready to be introduced into society, and I wholly agree with you on that front. He still struggles with words longer than three syllables, he has severe trust issues and there are no official records of him at this time.”

Jamison nodded, despite the other not having guessed the actual reason. However, it was better that he didn’t. “So you see why I need you to get it back.”

For a moment, Prince’s straight face  _ did _ falter. It couldn’t seem to decide whether to curve into a smile or a frown. However, it quickly settled again. “Is there a reason you’re asking me specifically?”

“You should know well, especially since we just had this conversation. You are the only one it trusts, and it listens to you.”

“I simply treat him with the respect any living creature - human, monster or animal - deserves.”

“According to biology, maybe he counts as living, but you know we had to create him artificially. Project N retained its memories from its life before we received it, rendering it useless.”

“Permission to remind you of something?”

“Yes,” Jamison accepted, pulling back one of the balls on the Newton’s Cradle on his desk and then letting go.

“X was also useless as a bioweapon because of one fatal flaw - his soul. Giving him one gave him a conscience. However, without a soul, he could not survive. It’s impossible to create a soulless being.”

“You are correct.” Jamison’s own smile faltered. There were only theories on how to do so, and so far, all of the ones they’d tried had proven to be busts. It was disappointing. “We still have not figured out a way to create a bioweapon without the morals that come with a soul. However, retrieving the X-Event is our top priority at this time.”

After a moment of hesitation, Prince replied, “I understand, sir.”

“Excellent. You will leave at three in the morning, so as to not alert the experiments. This gives you an hour to prepare if you sleep, and three and a half if you don’t. I know your sleep schedule well, Prince,” Jamison joked with a wink to signify that the remark was casual.

“Because I don’t have one to begin with,” the skeleton chuckled. “Good one.”

“Back on topic, the first location I want you to search is the town of Rockwell,” Jamison ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you for your time, Doctor Prince. You are dismissed.”

Prince left the office, and Jamison smirked. Phase one of the plan was nearly complete.

“Hey, Night?”

The goop-covered skeleton shifted from the sudden noise.

“Mmm?” he hummed as he lifted his head. After a moment, his singular cyan eyelight fixated on the other.

“Hey,” Blue greeted him. “I just came by to tell you-”

“That bastard told you to go find X, and you’re going to be leaving me alone again?” he scoffed. “Figures.”

“Nightmare-”

“How long will it be this time? Longer than the time I attacked your boss?” Nightmare laughed sarcastically, but Blue could sense an underlying fear in his voice.

“I don’t think I’ll be gone for a whole month again,” Blue reassured the other. “And If I see-”

“You don’t actually think you’ll see him again, will you?” Nightmare interrupted Blue. “He disappeared without a trace after I did. The only difference was that he wasn’t fucking captured by the stupid government.”

“...No, I don’t,” Blue conceded, before smiling sadly. “But it can’t hurt to hope, can it?”

“You and I both know that I’m never getting out of this place.”

“Night, that’s not what I-”

The goopy skeleton held up a tentacle to interrupt Blue. “Just go. Get some sleep for once, then go find X, okay?” Nightmare smiled.

“Alright.” Blue gave Nightmare a hug then turned around to leave.

“And promise you’ll sleep for once,” Nightmare added sternly.

Blue rolled his blue eyelights and smiled. “I promise.” The door closed, and Blue sighed. He didn’t want to leave Nightmare alone, but he had a job to do.

“Goodnight, Nightmare,” he whispered, before heading upstairs to go to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's the swearing :)  
> also in the government experiment base thing, the employees have their own rooms above all the experiments. also in case there's any confusion, doctor prince and blue are the exact same person. guess what, last names based on creators.


	4. Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After explaining to Cross what a mirror is and getting a call rescheduling an appointment, Dream reminisces about his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Holy shit, Maxils hasn't completely abandoned WNMFW?!" you gasp. "She actually updated?!"  
> Yep, I actually updated.

The next morning, the first thing Dream did was have Cross try on the clothes he’d picked out for him. Cross had been reluctant to do so at first, but Dream had managed to persuade him, and miraculously, the clothes fit the taller skeleton. He actually looked really nice in them, too.

“So, what do you think?” Dream asked.

Cross stared at the mirror in curiosity, as though it was his first time seeing anything even slightly reflective. Considering that Cross had never heard of a hospital or even a  _ name _ before meeting Dream, that was a very real possibility.

Cross moved his hand, then jumped back startled as the reflection moved with him.

“Who’s that?” he asked, the fear present in his voice.

“That’s just your reflection,” Dream explained. “Don’t worry, it can’t hurt you.” He touched the mirror to prove it. “See?” Cross was still very obviously confused, so Dream added, “That’s what you look like.”

At that point, Cross seemed to get it. Cautiously, he moved closer to the mirror. The reassurance that the reflection wouldn’t hurt him had calmed him down, and he was studying the reflection curiously.

“Do you like the clothes?” Dream asked again. Cross turned to him, a small smile on his face, and nodded.

“That’s gr-” Dream was interrupted by his cellphone buzzing in his pocket, which freaked out Cross.

“It’s okay, Cross, it’s just my phone,” Dream informed him, pulling out the phone.

“Oh,” Cross said, calmer.

Dream looked at the screen to see that he had a call. “I’m just going to answer this call now. Okay?”

Cross nodded, not an ounce of confusion radiating from him.  _ He must have seen a phone before, _ Dream determined, answering the call.

“Hi, Dream,” a glitchy voice on the other end of the call replied.

“Oh, hey, Error, what’s up?”

“I’m just calling to tell you that I’m gonna have to reschedule my appointment to next week, because my boyfriend is actually flying here right now to visit, and he’s gonna be staying for a couple days.”

“Good to know,” Dream replied.

“Ay, bro, ya talkin’ to yer ex again?” another voice spoke from the background. Dream recognized it as one of Error’s two younger brothers, Fresh.

“Could you two keep it down, I’m trying to study,” a third yelled. Geno, the older of Error’s brothers, was still in college. Error had to take care of both of his brothers because his parents were no longer in the picture, Fresh was in Grade 11, and Geno had various physical problems. This caused Error a lot of stress and anxiety, which was why he had started therapy in the first place. “Error had to call to reschedule his therapy appointment with Dream because Ink is flying in from France to meet with Error in person for the first time.”

_ Wait, what? _

After sighing, Error finished, “So yeah, got any slots open for next week?”

“Y-yeah,” Dream confirmed, stuttering slightly and hoping that Error didn’t notice. “I can reschedule you for... Wednesday at three.”

“That’s great. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Fresh spoke again. “Don’t Inky-brah’s plane land at ten?”

“...Yeah, what time is it?”

“S’ nine, and ya still haven’t scraped da frost off o’ da windows o’ da car. Da YYC airport’s ‘bout forty-five mins away, and dat’s where his plane’s landin’, ain’t it?”

“SHIT. Gotta go. Bye.”

Before Dream could say goodbye, Error hung up, leaving Dream to process what had just happened.

That had to be a coincidence, right? Two people could have the same name. This was probably a different Ink from Dream’s former childhood friend, one of the two people Dream had distanced himself from because of his mental state at the time.

“Are you okay?” Cross asked, snapping Dream out of his thoughts.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Dream said. He decided to sit down on the couch and look at the photos.

For thirteen years, Dream, Ink, and Blue had been the closest of friends, only one person being closer to Dream than they were. If Dream wasn’t spending time with Nightmare, he was usually hanging out with one or both of them. Recess? Playing on the playground with them. Group projects? They were each other’s first choices. Studying? All together. It had seemed like nothing could tear them apart.

Then, Nightmare disappeared.

Dream’s mental state had shattered. The only person he cared about more than his two best friends had vanished from his life without a trace. Dream had lost interest in socializing, developed a fear of getting too close to anyone, gotten into a huge fight with Blue. His mental health got so bad that he could barely stand to be in the same city where Nightmare had disappeared from, so Neil had decided that they’d move to Rockwell. Dream cut all contact with all of his old friends, and didn’t even tell him where he was moving to.

Fortunately, his mental state began to improve after a while, with the help of some therapy. Before he’d started therapy, he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, but after he was done, he had decided that he wanted to help others, the same way his therapist had helped him.

Of course, he still had the fear of getting too attached to others, but that was besides the point.

Once again, Cross interrupted his thoughts. “I’m hungry.”

“Oh.” Dream thought for a moment about where he could take Cross. “Well, we could go out somewhere to get food. There’s a place that’s about a 7 minute drive from here.”

“What’s drive?” Cross asked.

“How about I just show you what it is, instead of explaining it?” Dream suggested.

Cross hesitated for a moment in consideration, before responding, “Okay.”

“Okay, then, I’ll get my keys and then I’ll take you to McDonald’s.”

Dream got up, pausing to refill Sombra’s food and water, grabbed his keys, and led Cross out the door and to the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was exactly 1000 words long and i am proud of myself for that :) also congratulations to that one person who got dream's ex right, also yes it is the same ink dream cut all ties with. in case you're wondering, ink did in fact major in art. yes he went to university in france. yes rockwell is located in alberta, canada. no rockwell is not a real place. yes error and ink are in a long distance relationship. type any other questions you may have into the comments.  
> [shameless self promotion of my tumblr](https://maxilsmaster.tumblr.com/)


	5. McDonald's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In what is by far the longest chapter of WNMFW to date, Dream takes Cross to McDonald's, we learn who Dream's university roommate was, and three friends reunite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT- HOW DID I WRITE OVER TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED WORDS?!

The drive to McDonald’s had been very question-filled. There were questions about trees, rocks, the road, the car, the sun, the snow falling outside… Dream had made sure to go a few kilometers under the speed limit. He also made sure to stop for gas, which he was running low on. Not to mention that the main route to the McDonald’s was closed due to the snow, meaning that the trip took a whole twenty minutes longer than expected. Rockwell was a small town, with most places being within a ten minute drive in ideal conditions. However, Canadian winters were usually far from ideal conditions. They were often cold, icy, and very, very snowy.

Dream realized that Cross was lucky that skeletons weren’t sensitive to temperature changes.

Fortunately, they eventually did arrive at the McDonald’s.

“We’re here,” Dream informed Cross, stopping the car. He got out and opened Cross’s door for him, and Cross emerged from the car.

“Where are we?” Cross asked.

“This place is called McDonald’s,” Dream explained. “It’s a fast food restaurant.”

“Res...tau...rant?”

“A restaurant is a place where you go to get food. The food comes already prepared.” Dream gazed at the McDonald’s sign. “This specific McDonald’s is managed by a friend of mine.”

Cross clearly had no idea what Dream meant, but decided to go along with it anyways.

Dream took the taller inside. It was a Wednesday - one that Dream didn’t actually have any patients on - so the McDonald’s was relatively empty, aside from a couple people. Pretty quickly, Dream actually recognized Fresh and Geno.

Fresh immediately noticed Dream. “Yo, Dreamy-brah!” he called out.

“Follow me,” Dream told Cross, leading him over to the other two.

“Heh, small world we live in, huh?” he chuckled. “Error didn’t want you two coming along?”

Geno glanced up from the notebook he was writing in. “He didn’t want _Fresh_ coming along,” he corrected Dream. “I don’t blame him. Unless Fresh himself is driving, he’s a n- _menace_ to deal with in the car. I’m so glad we live a three-minute walk from here.” He returned to studying.

“Who dis?” Fresh asked, pointing at Cross.

“Oh, right, I almost forgot to introduce him,” Dream replied. “This is Cross.”

“‘Sup, Cross? Fresh is da name, an’ memes’re mah game.” He stood up and offered his hand for Cross to shake. Despite only being in Grade 11, Fresh was over one whole foot taller than Dream.

Cross stared back at Fresh, confused.

“Oh, uh… I should probably explain some things,” Dream said. “About Cross.”

And so, he spent the next fifteen minutes explaining various things about Cross to Fresh and Geno.

Eventually, Cross reminded Dream that he was hungry, and Dream went to get them some food. He figured that it would be best to get Cross a Happy Meal, to see if he liked it. He went over to the cashier, a brown cat monster whose name tag read, “Burgerpants.”

“Hey, can I get a six piece Chicken McNugget meal with medium fries, a large Coke and some sweet and sour sauce, as well as a hamburger Happy Meal with fries and some chocolate milk?” Dream requested. He decided to get Cross chocolate milk because hey, he’d liked chocolate, so he’d probably like chocolate milk too.

“Okay, let me just ring up your total.”

After the total was determined, Dream paid Burgerpants, and was about to go to see Cross when the person next to him, a human woman with shortish, blonde hair, screamed, “I DEMAND THAT YOU LET ME SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER!”

Burgerpants groaned. “Ugh, great, a Karen.” He turned away and went into the kitchen.

Out of the corner of his socket, Dream could see Fresh pulling out a phone, and Geno facepalming.

Then, the manager came out.

“So, what seems _tibia_ the problem?” Sans asked.

“This man won’t let me redeem my coupon!” the Karen yelled furiously back, pointing at the cashier she was speaking to.

“Show me the coupon.” The Karen handed Sans the coupon. He studied it closely for about a minute, then looked her dead in the eyes, his face perfectly straight, and said, “Ma’am, this coupon expired fourteen days ago. It’s also crumpled and ripped, and there are makeup smudges all over it. It’s completely irredeemable. Also, it’s for Burger King, not McDonald’s.”

“THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! I SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO REDEEM THIS COUPON! I’M TELLING ALL OF MY FRIENDS NEVER TO COME HERE, EVER!”

Sans smirked and asked, “What friends?”

“I’M LEAVING!!!” The Karen stormed out of the restaurant, sticking her middle finger up at Sans as she left. Sans stuck up both of his middle fingers back, still grinning.

“Dis is goin’ on YT, Reddit an’ errything else,” Fresh chuckled.

Sans gave Fresh a thumbs up. “Great. Send the link and I’ll check it out and give it a good _vertebrae_ -ting.” He turned to Dream and walked over. “Ayy, it’s my old uni roommate, Daydream Believer!”

“Ayyy, Comic Sans MS!” Dream replied, giving Sans a hug. Sans had started calling Dream “Daydream Believer” after he’d caught Dream listening to that song. Dream had the idea to call Sans “Comic Sans MS” while picking a font for an essay a few days later. Of course, he hadn’t used Comic Sans for his essay.

“You haven’t visited since your birthday three and a half weeks ago!”

“Cuz I haven’t had a day off until today, and you know how winter is around here.”

“Heh, yeah. So what’s been _boning_ on since we last spoke?”

“Well…” Dream glanced at Cross. “Exactly how long do you have?”

“Not a lot to do today, so probably ‘till the next Karen comes along.”

“Your order is ready,” Burgerpants called.

Sans looked at the prepared meal. “A Happy Meal?”

“Not for me,” Dream clarified. “For him.” He pointed at Cross.

“...Is that the hoodie I got you for your birthday that one time?”

“Yeah… I should probably explain.”

Sans turned to Burgerpants. “Ay, BP, a Big Mac, extra ketchup, and make sure to give me some ketchup packets, too.” He handed Burgerpants a ten-dollar bill. The cashier just rolled his eyes, gave Sans his change, and informed the cooks of the order. “I’ll meet up with you right after I get my order, and then we’ll chat.”

“Okay.” Dream went back to Geno, Fresh and Cross, bringing his and Cross’s food with him.

“Ya know da manager?” Fresh pointed out immediately.

“Yeah, Sans and I go way back,” Dream told them. He then proceeded to explain the rest of the story to the others while waiting for Sans. They actually hadn’t met in university, but on their first day of Grade 11, eight months after Dream had moved to Rockwell. The place they’d met had actually been the very McDonald’s they were in right now. Again, Rockwell was a small town.

Either way, at the time, Dream’s therapist had told him to try to be more social. So, upon arriving at the McDonald’s at the same time as Sans, Dream had taken the opportunity to introduce himself, and they bonded over their shit mental health. That had been the first time since moving to Rockwell that Dream had been happy.

“But… why were you sad in the first place?” Cross asked empathetically.

“...I’d rather not answer.”

It was at that point that Sans arrived, with a ketchup-covered burger, several packets of ketchup, and even a whole bottle of ketchup.

“Who needs that much ketchup?” Dream teased Sans.

“I thought you knew me better than this,” Sans joked in reply.

Geno and Fresh weren’t so keen on picking up the joke, as was evidenced by Geno’s next statement, “The answer is nobody.”

“Unless ya got dat ketchup fer us,” Fresh chimed in.

This caused Dream and Sans to burst out laughing.

“You-You actually expect Sans to _share_ his ketchup?!” Dream wheezed.

“What a joke,” Sans laughed, picking up a ketchup packet and squeezing it straight into his mouth. Geno and Fresh grimaced at this, disgusted. Eleven years ago, this would’ve disgusted Dream too. However, he’d grown numb to it over time.

Cross’s reaction to this was to pick up a ketchup packet and copy what Sans had done.

“Cross, oh my god,” Dream chuckled.

Sans grinned. “Hey, this guy gets it. Don’t know how he managed to sneak one of my ketchup packets, though. But hey, I had too many anyways.”

“Speaking of him, I still owe you an explanation.”

“Nah, eat first,” Sans insisted. “Otherwise your food will get cold.”

“Good point,” Dream replied, before noticing that Cross’s happy meal box was still unopened. He opened the box for the taller, pulled out the food and unwrapped the hamburger. He then reached in one more time and pulled out the toy, a Beanie Baby cat. He pulled the toy out of its packaging and gave it to Cross.

“What’s this?” Cross questioned, confused.

“I’ll explain it to you after I tell Sans a few things, okay?”

Cross tilted his head in confusion, then said, “Okay.”

“Let me start from the beginning. Geno, Fresh, you’ve already heard this so you can just ignore me.”

And so, he explained the exact same things to Sans.

By the time the explanation was over, and it had been riddled with Cross asking questions about the toy and food, they’d been in the McDonald’s for a whole fifty-seven minutes. Geno and Fresh had decided to leave in the middle of the explanation. Cross had also decided to name his toy Dream. The real Dream was flattered by this.

“I have one question,” Sans spoke.

“Go ahead,” Dream replied. He wasn’t expecting Sans to only have one question, but he was willing to answer anyways.

“Why did you bring him to your house instead of a place with a doc-”

“I’m gonna answer the question before you finish it by saying that I said that word and he panicked.”

“...Alright then.”

“Anyways, you haven’t told me anything about what you’ve done in the past almost month,” Dream addressed, changing the subject. “How’s Papyrus been?”

“He’s been doing well. As for what’s happened in my life, my old man paid a visit for the first time in a year and a half on Christmas.”

“He visited? How is he?”

“Doing pretty good, though he still hasn’t said shit about his damn job, or about why the fuck he decided to pack up and leave the day after Paps and I turned eighteen. He still doesn’t understand why I got a degree in Physics but still decided to be the manager of a fast food restaurant. Granted, I don’t understand that last one either.”

“Oh.”

There was a pretty big rift between Sans and his father, Wing Dings Gaster. Even before Sans and Papyrus had turned eighteen, their father had rarely been at home, and when he was, he was usually working. He claimed that his work was very demanding, but Sans was still bitter towards him.

“Anyways, _tibia_ honest, his visit is the most interesting thing that’s happened since we last spoke. Other than that, just dealing with some Karens, trying to survive Alberta’s winter, and being as lazy as life lets me be.”

“Well, it’s good to hear that you’re doing well,” Dream smiled, before something caught his eye from out of the window.

Through the pure white snow, he noticed a black and blue SUV.

There was only one person he knew with an SUV with that specific paint job.

“...Shit.”

“Everything okay?” Sans asked Dream.

“So. My ex, who I was with for a week before we before we decided to just be friends, has a new boyfriend, and his new boyfriend came here today. So obviously, the solution would be to avoid him and his new boyfriend, right?”

“Yeah…?”

“Well… that’s his SUV.” Dream pointed at the SUV outside.  
“Oh boy.”

“You skipped the T,” Cross pointed out.

“Cross, that isn’t the important part. The important part is that his new boyfriend shares a name with one of my best friends before my brother disappeared.”

Dream looked out of the window again. Error stood out against the snow because of his black bones, but Dream couldn’t see the other person who was inevitably with Error.

“Yeah,” Sans nodded, “you’re fucked.”

Dream could only brace himself as Error entered the building, followed by a shorter skeleton with a black stain-shaped marking on his skull.

Needless to say, Dream was about three seconds away from a panic attack.

Upon looking in Dream’s direction, it was clear that Error was, too.

“I-I-I’m just… gonna order s-some food,” Error told Ink. “What do you want?”

Ink took out a small notebook and a pencil. He began writing down his order. “I’ll take a Quarter Pounder BLT, large fries, an extra large coffee and an M&M McFlurry.” He ripped a page out of the notebook and handed it to Error.

“...Alright, could you find us a table?”

“Sure thing,” Ink nodded.

On the outside, Dream looked perfectly calm. On the inside, he was screaming, and praying to God that Ink wouldn’t recognize him.

Unfortunately, life decided to flip Dream the bird.

They stared at each other for a solid minute, before Ink finally spoke.

“Putain de merde, c'est vraiment toi, Dream?”

“¿Quién es este tipo Dream de que hablas? Soy el General de División Moderno Carlos Cortez de las Provincias Unidas de Eurasia.”

Ink then proceeded to tackle hug Dream, which prompted Cross to summon a giant sword, his left eye glowing a fierce purple.

“Holy shit, Cross, calm down,” Dream warned. “Ink isn’t planning to hurt me. I hope.”

“Why would I do that?!” Ink gasped in mock offense, his eyelights transitioning through different shapes and colors as he blinked. “You were my best friend for years, before you disappeared without a trace!”

“X, relax,” another voice interrupted. Standing at the doorway was yet another skeleton, wearing a Men In Black-esque suit, with shades that completely hid his eyelights. “Put away your weapon.”

Cross turned to look at the man, before desummoning the sword.

“Thank you, X,” the stranger said. “Now, as for the rest of you, I’m gonna need you all to forget you saw X.”

“Will do,” Ink nodded with a smile. “...Who the fuck is X?”

“That is not currently important.”

“Who are you?” Dream asked, narrowing his eye sockets.

“Also unimportant. What _is_ important is that X comes back with me.”

“NO! I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK!” Cross screeched, tears in his eyes.

“...X, please, I’ve been ordered to bring you back. J-My boss is gonna be pissed if I don’t bring you back.”

“Hey, buddy,” Ink spoke, “we need a name for you so if a story is written about us, the author doesn’t have to just call you ‘the stranger’ or ‘the man’ over and over again.”

“Yes, who are you?” Dream repeated.

The stranger chuckled at this. “Ink not recognizing me, I can understand. After all, we can all agree that he doesn’t have the best memory. But you, Dream? You don’t recognize one of your best friends?” The stranger removed his shades to reveal a pair of bright blue eyelights. “It’s me, Blue.”

Yep, Dream was asleep and none of this was real. He punched himself in the arm, just to be sure.

Shit, nope, this was all real. Dream, Ink and Blue were all standing in the same McDonald’s.

“...Shit, I was hoping you two wouldn’t run into each other,” Error said to Dream and Ink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol i just wanted ink to break the fourth wall there  
> thx for reading  
> [link to my tumblr](https://maxilsmaster.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to nobodyinparticular on discord for the title idea.


End file.
